You seem to be looking for a cross-point switch, widely used in telecom and broadcast systems. Is this to be a single or multi-path switch? Do you need collision detection and priority? Uni- or bi-directional? The Mitel MT8808 is an 8x8 switch array that can be expanded. An 144x144 is huge and best be handled in a 3-stage approach, reducing costs and improving reliability. E

I will raster-scan the 144 point matrix. The size is not set in stone. It could be 10x10 for example. Could I use a DSP of sorts ?
The idea is similar to an old TV. Scanning lines to produce an image.The reason for the raster is that I need to only fire one dot at a time (design constraint).
Maybe a microcontroller that has 20 analog outputs or 20 digital (on/off) outputs that I could then turn to an adjustable gain analog signal could work.?
Or two arduinos - one per axis?

What do you guys think?

I'm pretty good at programming, I don't mind, as long as I can get down to 0.5 to 1 micro-second pulses (square).

I saw it done with four 6x6 matrixes adjacent to each other forming the larger 144 dot matrix. (4x 36x36)

You seem to be looking for a cross-point switch, widely used in telecom and broadcast systems. Is this to be a single or multi-path switch? Do you need collision detection and priority? Uni- or bi-directional? The Mitel MT8808 is an 8x8 switch array that can be expanded. An 144x144 is huge and best be handled in a 3-stage approach, reducing costs and improving reliability. E